Leather-Jacket Guy
by skuba3000
Summary: How Cassie met Dean


Cassie took a sip of her coffee and, putting the cup down, flexed and stretched her fingers. She had written a good ten pages of notes so far for her upcoming essay. Old journals and yellow-paged books were scattered across the library desk. She leaned back in her chair, hands behind her head, and closed her eyes for a moment. As fascinating as the political climate of the 60s was, she was looking forward to submitting her thesis at the end of the month.

She opened her eyes, realising what that meant – in a few weeks she would be graduating, and leaving her college life behind. Scanning the room, she looked at the long shelves of books, and thought wistfully that she may never have such easy access to this amount of knowledge again. Glancing at her watch, which read 4.20pm, she decided to work for a bit longer, until 5pm at least.

Heavy footsteps approached her from behind. A book thudded down on the neighbouring desk. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a tall guy with a heavy leather jacket sit down with a grunt. He started flicking through the pages of the ancient tome in front of him. He seemed distinctly uncomfortable to be there, and stood out from the other college guys she usually saw around, with his muddy boots and worn jeans. Shrugging to herself, she got on with her work – you get all types of people in college.

At 5 o'clock, she got up to give back her books. On her return, she noticed someone had written in her notepad:

" _Hey, you look cool, so if you're free, meet me outside of here at 7pm. I'm new to this place – maybe you could show me around? Dean (I was sitting on the desk across there)"_ with an arrow pointing to her left.

Looking in that direction, she realised that Leather-Jacket Guy – Dean? – had been sitting there, although the desk was now vacant. She smiled curiously – it had been a while since anyone had asked her out by a note. Swinging her bag onto her back, she headed home.

An hour later, while eating dinner, she read through her work from earlier and came across the mysterious note. Cassie opened her mouth to ask her roommate to come take a look at it, before remembering that Jane was at her friend's birthday party. So, she could either spend the night alone in her appartment, or go out to meet this guy. It was no choice really – she had the inquisitiveness of a budding journalist, and this guy was intriging. Still, she sent off a quick text to Jane to let her know she was meeting someone, just in case.

Dean was sitting on the library steps, watching students come and go. He imagined Sammy being one of them, and wondered whether he was fitting in at Stanford. As he caught sight of the girl from the library, he stood up and walked over to meet her.

"You came!" he said, smiling broadly.

"You're not a serial killer, by any chance?" she asked, only half joking. Now that she was close to him, he was actually quite intimidating. Tall and well built, although it may have been the multiple layers he was wearing, he had the look of a guy who could easily beat most men in a fight.

"Well, I guess it depends on what qualifies as murder," he replied. Seeing the look on her face, he raised his hands and said, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you. It's just, I don't know anyone in this town, and I figured I should at least try to get to know someone."

She looked at him for a couple of seconds. His eyes looked honest, and she decided she could trust him, for now at least.

"Okay," she said.

"Okay? That's it?" He looked confused.

"Yeah. I'm Cassie, by the way." She held out a hand.

Shaking it, he said, "I'm Dean."

"Yeah, I know," she said.

He looked awkward, shuffling his feet, and suddenly reminded her of a 5-year-old kid. Laughing at that, Cassie said, "So, is there anything in particular you wanted to do?"

"Well, usually I would hit the bar, but I'm skint at the moment." Seeing her face, he added "Oh, don't worry. It's just my dad… Long story, but he's out of town, and he left me here for a few weeks, but forgot to give me cash. My new card will take a few days to come through, so until then I'm broke."

"Okay… I guess we could just take a walk, to the park or something?"

"Sounds good."

He fell in step beside her, with his hands in his pockets, and they started strolling along the sidewalk. They walked in silence for a couple of minutes. Occasionally Cassie would point out some of the university buildings, to make conversation, but mostly she was just taking him in, wondering who he was and what he was doing here.

He was not a student, that's for sure. He seemed too… rough? From his boots to his broad shoulders and jacket, he seemed like someone accustomed to physical work. In contrast, his face was almost feminine in its features, with pouty lips and long eyelashes, in perfect view from the side. His spiky brown hair and freckles gave him a boyish look, but the set of his jaw and his eyes, currently deep in thought, seemed to indicate a maturity beyond his years.

Noticing her watching him, Dean gave Cassie a cheeky grin, and said, "Like what you see?"

"Dude. I'm just wondering, who the heck are you? You turn up here out of the blue, and invite random strangers to show you around."

He looked away from her and said "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Come on, no excuses. What were you doing in a library – I'm assuming you're not a student?"

"No I'm not – I'm here because my dad told me to brush up on my werewolf, vampire and demon lore while he was away." He looked back at her, smirking.

"Seriously?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, see, usually it's my brother's job to be the nerd of the family, but since he ran off to Stanford-"

"Wait, your brother's in Stanford?"

"Yeah, so since he's ditched us, I've got saddled with doing research."

She stopped walking and stared at him. He was either lying or crazy. He winked at her and laughed at her expression. She felt herself blushing from the gaze of those green eyes, and looked away.

"Okay, fine, don't tell me if you don't want to."

His smile faltered, and he said, "I'm sorry, but I really can't tell you any more." In a gentler voice he asked, "So, what do you do?"

She sighed and started walking again. "I'm an History major, but I'd like to get into journalism in the future. I'm graduating this year, and I have an internship planned at the local newspaper."

He nodded. "Cool."

"Listen, I can't say I'm in the mood to talk about my work either – my thesis is due soon, and it's been stressing me out."

"Okay."

They continued walking and entered the park. The grass was long, the flowers were in full bloom, and there was a refreshing breeze. They could here birds singing loudly in the trees. Summer was here. Cassie led Dean up a small hill to a point where they had a good view of the town, with the sun setting behind it. They sat down on the grass. Cassie felt a little awkward, sitting here with a guy she had just met, but she tried to relax and enjoy the moment. It occurred to her that she had last been here with her ex-boyfriend in her sophomore year. She couldn't believe it had been two whole years ago. She leaned back on her elbows, enjoying the sun on her face.

Dean had taken his jacket off to reveal a beige shirt over a grey top. He appeared to be wearing some sort of amulet on a string around his neck. He looked a little out of place in the park, and was sitting cross-legged, picking at the grass.

"Hey, you okay?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," Dean replied. He smirked, "I just haven't been to a park in a long time, that's all. Not for fun, anyway."

"When was the last time?"

He looked at her. "Maybe 7 or 8 years ago? My brother Sammy and I, we got some fireworks one night… Good times."

He looked away, frowning a little.

"What happened? With your brother, I mean?"

Dean gave a mirthless laugh. "He decided he was better off without his family."

"I'm sure that's not true–"

"Look, it's not something you would want to hear about." He shut her off again.

She looked away, and they sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Hey," Dean said, "I'm sorry. It's a touchy subject."

"Okay."

"Here, take this –"

He had plucked a daisy from the ground, and gave it to her. She took it, wondering what to do with it, then decided to put it in her hair. It stayed for a couple of seconds, but fell from her as soon as she moved.

"Let me." Dean shuffled over to crouch beside her and picked up the fallen flower. With a slight hesitatancy as his hand approached her face, waiting for her permission, he placed the flower back in position. His hand lingered in her curls for a moment. Their eyes made contact.

Cassie was struck by the depth behind those wide, green eyes. There was a kindness there, a softness behind the tough exterior he showed to the world. She she saw his soul in that moment. Dean, meanwhile, looked at Cassie properly for the first time. She was pretty, with her red lips and flirty eyes, but there was an undeniable strength to her, more than he had seen in a woman before. She seemed fearless. He could respect that.

But the moment was over quickly. Dean sat back down, but right beside her this time. They watched as the sky turned orange. Cassie cautiously moved her hand to his until they touched, and then held it. He didn't jerk away. She looked at him, and he returned her glance and gave her a small smile. Taking that as a signal, she leaned on him, and put her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her, and they stayed like that until the sun went down.

It was dark when she was gently shaken awake, and Cassie realised she had dozed off against Dean's chest. He smelt really good, and she didn't particularly want to leave.

"Hey, Cassie? You awake?"

"Mmm. Yeah."

"We should go now. It's getting cold."

"Okay."

As they got up, Dean asked if she wanted to be walked back to her apartment.

"I'd like that," she said with a sleepy smile.

They wandered back to Cassie's home, holding hands, in a comfortable silence. Outside her front door, they stopped and faced each other.

"This was nice," Dean said.

"Yeah it was," Cassie agreed.

"Thanks for, er, putting up with me."

"No problem."

They stood awkwardly, neither wanting to leave.

Dean finally asked, "Can I get your number? It would be good to know at least one person in this place."

Cassie looked up from under her eyelashes. "Sure."

Dean somehow found a marker pen in one of his many pockets. As she wrote her number on his arm, she asked, "Do you usually go to the library to pick up girls?"

He laughed and said, "Nah, this is a first for me. Because … circumstances."

She smiled. "Okay, see you later then?"

"Okay."

She turned and started walking to her door, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him. After a second, he put an arm around her waist and the other behind her head, pulled her in towards him, and kissed her. After breaking the kiss, they stood with their arms around each other for a moment, before pulling away.

They both smiled, then Dean gave her a small wave, turned and walked away down the street. Cassie watched him for a minute before heading inside.

The next few weeks were going to be good.


End file.
